Women’s Volleyball Downs JWU-Providence in Five Sets

NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier women's volleyball team came away with a crucial five-set Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over JWU-Providence on Thursday night at the Wildcat Center. Riv was victorious over JWU by set scores of 25-20, 12-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9. The win propelled the Raiders to 14-7 (8-2 GNAC) while the Wildcats fell to 12-11 (9-2 GNAC).

Rivier bounced out to a 7-2 lead in the first set with kills from Ali Rivera and Callie Nanos along with several Wildcat errors. JWU would later tie the score at 12-12 on three straight points, but Rivera would right the ship with back-to-back kills to put the Raiders up 14-12. A Lily Sills solo block would make it 18-15 later in the set, but once again the Wildcats would bounce back to tie the score. Still tied at 20-20 following a Rivier service error, Rivier would score five straight, including two kills from Brynn Roche, to take a 1-0 advantage in the match.

JWU-Providence's offense would bounce back in the second set, hitting at a .286 team percentage with four kills from Peyton Oliver as they tied the match at 1-1.

Sills added a kill out of a Wildcats timeout, to make it 19-16 Rivier, but two Raiders errors and an Oliver kill tied the score at 19-19 once more, forcing Riv into a timeout. JWU regained the lead on the next serve as Sarah Miller fired home an ace. The teams would go on to trade the next seven points to remain deadlocked at 23-23. Rivera capped off the third set with back-to-back service aces to give the visitors a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set.

Once again, the hosts would bounce back in a major way in the fourth, not allowing Rivier a chance to close out the match. The Wildcats tacked on 13 kills at a .435 percentage to take the frame and force a fifth and final set.

In large part due to a service run from Hannah Raab, Rivier took a 7-1 lead in the fifth, which was a big enough cushion for the Raiders to earn a 15-9 victory.

Rivera led the way offensively with 17 kills at a .406 clip. Sofia Pawlusik recorded a team-best 17 digs in the outing while Lily Sills registered three blocks. Both Ryan Hicks (14) and Kaitlyn Miller (13) combined for 27 assists as the team hit a collective .128 percentage.

Rivier continues its GNAC road stand with a tri-match against Lasell and host Albertus Magnus on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively, from the Messer Athletic Center.